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Vitreous enamel, also called porcelain enamel, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between . The powder melts, flows, and then hardens to a smooth, durable vitreous coating on metal, or on glass or ceramics. The term "enamel" is most often restricted to work on metal, which is the subject of this article. Enameled glass is also called "painted". Fired enamelware is an integrated layered composite of glass and metal. The word ''enamel'' comes from the Old High German word ''smelzan'' (to smelt) via the Old French ''esmail'',〔Campbell, 6〕 or from a Latin word ''smaltum'', first found in a 9th-century life of Leo IV. Used as a noun, "an enamel" is usually a small decorative object coated with enamel. Enameling is an old and widely adopted technology, for most of its history mainly used in jewelry and decorative art. Since the 19th century the term applies also to industrial materials and many metal consumer objects, such as some cooking vessels, dishwashers, laundry machines, sinks, and tubs. ("Enamelled" and "enamelling" are the preferred spellings in British English, while "enameled" and "enameling" are preferred in American English.) ==History== Ancient Persians used this method for coloring and ornamenting the surface of metals by fusing over it brilliant colors that are decorated in an intricate design and called it Meenakari. Mina is the feminine form of Minoo in Persian, meaning heaven. Mina refers to the Azure color of heaven. The Iranian craftsmen of Sasanian Empire era invented this art and Mongols spread it to India and other countries.〔Meenakari〕 The ancient Egyptians applied enamels to stone objects, pottery, and sometimes jewelry, though to the last less often than in other ancient Middle Eastern cultures. The ancient Greeks, Celts, Georgians, and Chinese also used enamel on metal objects.〔Andrews, A.I. Porcelain Enamels, The Garrard Press: Champaign, IL, 1961 p. 1.〕 Enamel was also used to decorate glass vessels during the Roman period, and there is evidence of this as early as the late Republican and early Imperial periods in the Levant, Egypt, Britain and around the Black Sea.〔Rutti, B., Early Enamelled Glass, in Roman Glass: two centuries of art and invention, M. Newby and K. Painter, Editors. 1991, Society of Antiquaries of London: London.〕 Enamel powder could be produced in two ways, either by powdering colored glass, or by mixing colorless glass powder with pigments such as a metallic oxide.〔Gudenrath, W., Enameled Glass Vessels, 1425 BCE - 1800: The decorating Process. Journal of Glass Studies, 2006. 48〕 Designs were either painted freehand or over the top of outline incisions, and the technique probably originated in metalworking.〔 Once painted, enameled glass vessels needed to be fired at a temperature high enough to melt the applied powder, but low enough that the vessel itself was not melted. Production is thought to have come to a peak in the Claudian period and persisted for some three hundred years,〔 though archaeological evidence for this technique is limited to some forty vessels or vessel fragments.〔 French tourist, Jean Chardin, who toured Iran during the Safavid rule, made a reference to an enamel work of Isfahan, which comprised a pattern of birds and animals on a floral background in light blue, green, yellow and red. Gold has been used traditionally for Meenakari Jewellery as it holds the enamel better, lasts longer and its luster brings out the colors of the enamels. Silver, a later introduction, is used for artifacts like boxes, bowls, spoons, and art pieces while Copper which is used for handicraft products were introduced only after the Gold Control Act, which compelled the Meenakars to look for a material other than gold, was enforced in India.〔 Initially, the work of Meenakari often went unnoticed as this art was traditionally used as a backing for the famous kundan or stone-studded jewellery. This also allowed the wearer to reverse the jewelry as also promised a special joy in the secret of the hidden design.〔http://www.iranreview.org/content/Documents/The_Art_of_Minakari_2.htm〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「vitreous enamel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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